Bicyclists Not Happy With London Cycle Superhighway

Britain’s largest national cyclist organization isn’t happy about the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s “Cycle Superhighways”.

Mon, Nov 16 2009 at 11:53 AM EST

The CTC, Britain’s national cyclist organization, is criticizing London Mayor Boris Johnson’s “Cycle Superhighways” as “glorified cycle lanes” meant to connect the center of the city with its outer suburbs. The first two routes are approximately 15 miles total and will be followed up with up to 10 other routes in the future.

The first two Superhighways aren’t new routes but are simply paths painted over existing streets. The deep blue routes won’t be physically seperated paths, they’ll just be a river of paint in a sea of cars. The CTC is also unhappy that Mayor Johnson pulled funding from the London Cycle Network Plus plan to fund his superhighways.

Mayor Johnson is pushing the superhighways as part of a larger $185 million investment in cycling infrastructure. Transport for London, the agency overseeing the project, says that the routes will improve as they fully roll out the projects phases. They have set a goal along with the mayor to increase cycling in London by 400% by 2025 compared to 2000 levels. The mayor also has declared that the city would cut their CO2 emissions 60% under the same time table.

I’m glad the city and the Mayor are excited about cycling, I just hope they spend the money in the right way- we need physically seperated routes to really keep bicyclists safe. A bike route isn’t safe and sane if a six year old can’t ride on it. A true cycle superhighway would be two wide lanes separated from other forms of transportation like roads and sidewalks with on and off ramps at convenient points. You know, like a car superhighway, just for bikes.